A winged intruder that threatened to desecrate some of the world's most precious impressionist masterpieces and forced an evacuation of the Art Gallery of SA has now been caught.
The bird, apparently a noisy miner, was spotted on Wednesday afternoon hovering inside the Colours of Impressionism exhibition in the gallery's Elder Wing.
The exhibition features artworks by Monet, Pissarro and other impressionist masters from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
But it was closed as staff brought out a large net to catch the creature, which could easily have dropped its own unwelcome Jackson Pollock-esque contribution on the paintings.
Fittingly, one of the Monet works on display is called The Magpie, and depicts a bird on a gate in the snow.
"We know that there are going to be people flocking to see this exhibition so we need to make sure that the works are not only brought here safely but installed in the gallery safely," assistant director Lisa Slade said before the exhibition opened last month.
Staff resorted to using a scissor lift trying to catch the bird which, like a creature in a cartoon, still eluded their grasp.
Transparent sheeting also sealed entrances in an attempt to confine the bird as authorities narrowed in.
The Art Gallery of SA has been reluctant to comment on the incident, but in a Twitter post confirmed the exhibition would reopen today, after the bird was caught yesterday.
Authorities have gone to great efforts to protect the paintings from theft and vandalism, so could perhaps be forgiven for not anticipating a feathered threat.
"We have security cameras in every single part of our gallery," Ms Slade said.
She said the gallery had boosted its security for the duration of the exhibition and that most of the paintings have protective glazing.
A portion of the gallery is also a declared quarantine zone with special biosecurity status.
